TF Blade out of League Partner Program until at least 2021

League of Legends streamer Ashkan “TF Blade” Homayouni has been removed from the League Partner Program (LPP) until at least June 2021. 

The popular streamer announced that Riot has decided to remove him from LPP due to lack of behavioral improvement. Riot will allow for a review of his behavior and content in June 2021 to decide if the ban should be continued from that point. 

“We conducted a comprehensive review of your League accounts, social media channels, and content. Overall we were looking for marked improvements from the player behavior issues that put you on your initial probationary period back in March 2020. You will also remember we did this review about a month ago and issued a short extension to your probation to give you additional time to hit those standards,” Riot said in their email to TF Blade. 

Riot assessed that TF Blade did not meet the necessary improvements expected from a League Partner. This means that TF Blade won’t be able to co-stream the LCS and will lose all support to his Riot Games accounts.

It’s not the first time that TF Blade has had issues with bans and suspensions. TF Blade was banned by Riot Games Korea in March while pursuing the region’s top spot in its ranked queue, reportedly due to toxic behaviors diplayed in-game towards his teammates.

TF Blade, other LoL streamers called out for toxicity

Challenger player and Twitch streamer “Nikkone” released a video regarding TF Blade and other notable LoL streamers, claiming that the current state of Twitch culture is bad for the game and its community. Nikkone mentions that he has experienced harassment from big streamers such as TF Blade, and that their attitude on stream affects their viewers’ behaviors in-game. He essentially claims that big streamers have a responsibility towards their viewers and the community at large to act responsibly both in and out of the game. 

Later, Nikkone encouraged community members to support streamers who are better role models towards the community. 

Riot recently took action against Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera, who also lost his partnership rights and ability to co-stream LCS. There is no doubt that Riot is starting to take more action against misbehavior from popular streamers, but it’s less clear if revoking LPP status will change anyone’s behavior.